Season 4 of Game of Thrones was formally commissioned by HBO on 2 April 2013, following a substantial increase in audience figures between the second and third seasons.[2] However, significant pre-production work on the season had already taken place previously to this point, including the writing of at least six of the scripts (by March 2013)[3], and the booking of some of the filming dates[4]. It consists of ten episodes and began filming on 8 July 2013.[5] It concluded filming on 21 November 2013. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss returned as showrunners, having signed a new two-year contract with HBO prior to the commissioning of the third season.

The season premiered on April 6, 2014.

Season 4 is mostly based on the second half of A Storm of Swords, the third book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, but a significant amount of material was also added from the fourth and fifth books, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, which run concurrently but follow different sets of characters.

Though the mainland of Westeros is mostly under Lannister control, there are still two factions defying them: the Greyjoys and the Baratheons. Ironborn occupiers remaining in the North are being hunted down by Ramsay Snow, bastard son of Roose Bolton. Ramsay holds Theon Greyjoy hostage, horribly torturing him at whim, but Balon Greyjoy considers his son as good as dead.

Stannis Baratheon, as the rightful heir to his older brother King Robert, still refuses to surrender, despite having only the remnants of an army. However, following the advice of Melisandre, he has focused his attention of the threat of the wildlings marching against the Wall.

The Lannisters only managed to win on the battlefield with the key support of House Tyrell of the Reach, which they won through promising a marriage-alliance between King Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell, daughter of Lord Mace Tyrell. Queen Regent Cersei fears - correctly - that just as the Baratheons became dependent on the Lannisters after Robert's Rebellion, the Lannisters are starting to become dependent on the Tyrells, who are already insinuating themselves into positions of power at King's Landing. A royal wedding is to be held between Joffrey and Margaery, which will confirm the future of the realm.

The only two kingdoms which have remained entirely aloof from the war so far are the Vale of Arryn and Dorne. While Lysa Arryn chose to remain neutral, former Master of Coin and new Lord of HarrenhalPetyr Baelish has been sent by Lord Tywin to woo her with a marriage proposal, now that he's a high lord and a suitable match for the Lady Regent of the Vale. Nevertheless only Littlefinger knows what Littlefinger is plotting.

For their own part, House Martell of Dorne has loathed the Lannisters ever since the Sack of King's Landing, when Ser Gregor Clegane raped and killed Elia Martell - sister of Doran Martell, the ruling Prince of Dorne - and Lord Tywin did nothing to punish him. During the War of the Five Kings Tyrion Lannister prevented Dorne from declaring for any of House Lannister's enemies by sending Princess Myrcella to Sunspear as part of her betrothal to Prince Trystane Martell, and in return, the Martells were promised a seat on the Small Council. To the consternation of the Lannisters, a large Dornish embassy arrives in King's Landing to claim their due - but instead of the elderly Prince Doran, his brash younger brother Prince Oberyn comes to claim the council seat. Oberyn loves the ladies, he loves the boys, but most of all he loved his sister Elia, and the Lannisters aren't the only ones who pay their debts.

Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea in Slaver's Bay, perhaps the greatest threat to Lannister rule is rapidly growing in strength. Daenerys Targaryen now commands not just three live dragons - who are starting to grow large enough to serve as decisive weapons of war - but also an army of eight thousand Unsullied warrior-eunuchs. For now, Queen Daenerys is carving a path through Slaver's Bay - not of conquest but of liberation. As functionally once a slave herself, Daenerys is determined to free the downtrodden slaves of the region. First Astapor and then Yunkai fell before Daenerys's forces, and hundreds of thousands of freed slaves now flock to her banner. Yet Daenerys must now face the last and greatest of the slaver-cities, Meereen - and unlike her previous victories, they have had time to prepare for her arrival.

Far to the north, beyond the politics and meaningless feuds of the south, the Wall and the dwindling Night's Watch are all that stand between the Seven Kingdoms and the horrors beyond. The White Walkers have emerged in force, leading their armies of Wights. The wildlings have rallied behind King-Beyond-the-WallMance Rayder in an attempt to flee south, knowing that as the White Walkers advance, anyone who remain in the lands beyond the Wall will die and become part of the undead host. Mance's wildling army now numbers in the tens of thousands, and is determined to force its way through the Wall to reach the safety of the south. All that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and this barbarian invasion is the Night's Watch, whose numbers and leadership were recently devastated with the deaths of a third of their number and that of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly do what they can to prepare Castle Black for the massive wildling attack.

Not only are the Night's Watch outnumbered and their remaining leadership fractured, but advanced raiding bands of wildlings have infiltrated behind the Wall by climbing over it, preparing to attack the weakly defended southern side of Castle Black. These warbands are led by Tormund Giantsbane and the fearsome Styr, Magnar of Thenn - as well as Jon Snow's ex-lover Ygritte, whom he betrayed when he revealed his true loyalty and returned to the Night's Watch.

Production

Primary filming for Season 4 continued in Northern Ireland.[6]It has been confirmed that the production returned to Dubrovnik in Croatia,[7] as well as Iceland[8]. Another filming location added to the Croatia production unit's schedule was the coastal city of Split.[9]

The Making Game of Thrones official production blog has confirmed that filming did not return to Morocco for Season 4. This decreases the number of countries that the TV series films in from four to three (Northern Ireland, Croatia, and Iceland).[10] Morocco was used for the location filming of Daenerys's Season 3 scenes set in Slaver's Bay, specifically the cities of Astapor and Yunkai. Daenerys's storyline continues to take place in Slaver's Bay during Season 4, but other locations (apparently in Croatia) will be used to represent it.

For Season 3, apparently due to the increased workload of concurrent filming in four countries, the number of production units was increased from two to three. The first two units, organized since the beginning of the TV series, are "Wolf" unit and "Dragon" unit. The new third production unit in Season 3 was called "Raven" unit.[11] Filming in Iceland actually began in Season 2. However, a post on the official Making Game of Thrones blog on September 25th, 2013, revealed that Season 4 would switch back to having only two units, and the extra "Raven" unit would be disbanded.[12]

The original reason that production expanded to location-shoots in Iceland in Season 2 was apparently to accurately portray the rugged frozen vistas of the lands beyond the Wall, i.e. when Jon Snow, Qhorin Halfhand, or Ygritte are walking on an actual frozen glacier with rugged mountains in the background, without the need for special effects shots to fill those details in (which it was feared would look fake). However, the location scouts found other areas in Iceland which they felt would be perfect for scenes from the other storylines. While scenes beyond the Wall were filmed in Iceland during the winter, they production team realized that during the summer melt, Iceland has many pristine landscapes and lush valleys suitable for filming other locations in Westeros. The wilding raiding party containing Ygritte and Tormund filmed in Iceland during the winter for their scenes north of the Wall: in Season 4 they have returned to Iceland but in the summer, to depict the somewhat warmer lands of the Gift immediately south of the Wall. Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane's storyline, as well as Brienne of Tarth's storyline, will also include some scenes filmed in Iceland (representing parts of the Riverlands, etc.).[13]

Adaptation

As David Benioff explained talking to EW.com, the producers were very excited to film Season 4, and the last three episodes in particular are scenes that - like the Red Wedding - they had been waiting to film since production on the first season began. Generally, the TV show has aimed to adapt roughly one book as one TV season, though the producers have also said they are adapting the story as a whole and thus parts will spill over into other seasons (i.e. Jaime Lannister didn't have much to do in the second novel, so they moved up some scenes he had from the beginning of the third novel into late Season 2). The third novel, A Storm of Swords, was so long that the decision was made to split it into two seasons. One of the reasons the Red Wedding was so shocking to book readers was because it didn't happen near the end of the third novel, not at the point readers would expect such a climax. However the decision was made that Season 3 needed to have a climax and it would better suit their needs to make it the climax at the end (as opposed to putting in in the fifth episode out of ten, for shock value, similar to how abruptly Renly Baratheon died in the fifth episode of Season 2). Season 1's climax was Ned Stark's execution, Season 2's climax was the Battle of the Blackwater, thus the Red Wedding fit in as a good climactic point for the end of Season 3. Therefore, Season 3 was only the first half of the third novel, while Season 4 will adapt the second half - the half with the actual climaxes from the end of the third novel. Many storylines are left irrevocably changed by the end of the third novel.[14]

Although the A Song of Ice and Fire novels were originally planned as a trilogy, to be titled A Game of Thrones, A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter, eventually George R.R. Martin realized his plot of "book one" would have to be expanded into three novels ​(A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords), which effectively means the first three books are one very long novel. In fact, the climax of A Storm of Swords concludes many of the plotlines begun in A Game of Thrones. Martin even initially planned to make a five-year time jump between the third and fourth novels, to emphasize how much of a chapter-break the climaxes of the third novel were to the overall story (though the time jump was later abandoned). Thus, David Benioff said he was very confident about Season 4, because it contains many climactic scenes which not only ended the third novel (to a greater extent than the Red Wedding), but concluded storylines begun in Season 1.[15]

Media release

Season 4 of Game of Thrones will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United States on February 17th, 2015. The set will include all ten episodes of the season and a number of extra features.[16]

The Season 4 DVD set

Features on the DVD release include:

Behind the Battle for the Wall – a 30 minute documentary exploring the behind-the-scenes challenges the cast and crew faced putting together the Battle of Castle Black.

The Fallen: A Roundtable – Writer Bryan Cogman sits down with a few of the many cast members who meet their demise in Season 4. From first learning of their deaths to shooting their final scenes, this 30-minute feature sheds light on what it's like to live-and die-in the Game of Thrones world.

The Politics of Power: A Look Back at Season 3 – a retrospective on the storylines of the first three seasons, leading up to Season 4.

Bastards of Westeros – Showrunners David Benioff & D.B. Weiss and author George R.R. Martin discuss the role bastards play in the Seven Kingdoms (this video has been released publicly).

Histories & Lore – A full hour of animated featurettes explaining the mythology of Westeros as told from the varying perspectives of the characters themselves.

While the first three TV seasons had an "In-Episode Guide" feature on the HBO GO service, this was discontinued for Season 4. Instead, starting in Season 4 all of the extras that used to appear in the In-Episode Guide started appearing in the HBO Viewer's Guide webpage for that episode (such as the bonus videos with the cast, crew, and writers) or on the MakingGameofThrones.com webpage (mostly the costume and props closeups). Therefore it isn't exactly clear what the "In-Episode Guide" on the Blu-ray release will contain, though it will probably be a combination of the Season 4 interviews and videos posted on the HBO Viewer's Guide and MakingGameOfThrones.com.[17]

Season 4 will be the first release with an alternate cover depicting the Martell sigil.

The Blu-ray box will come in several different variant covers, based on the different Great House sigils as in past seasons. Apart from the main Season 4 art design featuring an image of the Three-eyed raven from Bran's visions, other covers will include the Stark, Lannister, Tyrell, or Targaryen sigils. Also, for the first time the House Martell sigil will appear on one of the variant covers (a golden spear piercing a red sun, on an orange background), because the Martells are first prominently introduced in the storyline in Season 4.[18]

Deleted scenes

The Season 4 Blu-ray release contains two short deleted scenes. Neither includes particularly significant information or character interactions (in contrast with the Season 2 deleted scene that focused on Loras's mourning at Renly's death, or the Season 3 deleted scene in which the Lannister Small Council discusses the wildling army gathering at the Wall).[19]

The first deleted scene is from "The Lion and the Rose" and is about 60 seconds long. It follows immediately after Tyrion breaks up with Shae and has Bronn take her away for a ship sailing to Pentos. After Bronn leaves with Shae, they are in the gardens outside of her chambers and she is still crying. He tries to comfort her by asking if she really thought her relationship with Tyrion would last forever, that "these people, even the good ones" use common people as they please, and when they're no longer any use they spit them out and find someone else they like. Bronn points out that there you don't see any old sellswords, new faster ones keep coming up, and you've got to adapt to new circumstances or perish. Shae ignores him, but then he gently urges that they have to get to her ship and they leave.

The second deleted scene is from "The Mountain and the Viper" and is about 45 seconds long. It follows immediately after Daenerys exiles Ser Jorah and he is seen riding away from the city. Later that night, Daenerys is on the balcony of her apartment at the top of the Great Pyramid, staring out at the horizon. Despite the anger that she showed in the courtroom when she exiled him, in private it is seen that she is in shock at his betrayal, and at having to lose him. Missandei arrives, sees she is upset, and asks if she can get her anything. Daenerys numbly mutters "never betray me", and continues to stare vacantly at the horizon that Jorah rode away into.

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special ("The Children")

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series ("The Watchers on the Wall")

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series – One Hour ("The Watchers on the Wall")

Outstanding Special and Visual Effects

Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Miniseries Or Movie

Outstanding Interactive Program – Game of Thrones Premiere : Facebook Live and Instagram

The winners will be announced at the Emmy Awards ceremony on August 25th, 2014.

The winners for several categories were announced at Emmy Creative Arts Awards on August 16th, 2014. Game of Thrones won the following awards:

Outstanding Art Direction For A Contemporary Or Fantasy Series (Single-Camera)

Outstanding Special and Visual Effects

Outstanding Costumes for a Series ("The Lion and the Rose") - Michele Clapton

This was Clapton's second Emmy award for costume design on Game of Thrones, after her previous win for her work in Season 2. She was also nominated for the costume design award in Season 1 and Season 3 but did not win.

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special ("The Children")

The TV series lost all of the other categories it was nominated for, including Dianna Rigg as Best Guest Actress.[21]

The winners for the remaining major categories that Game of Thrones is nominated in will be announced at the main Emmy Awards ceremony on August 25th, including: